Europe: EC warned against possible devastating global warming

 

Reuters.com

European Commission has warned that global warming might be more devastating than previously thought and called on negotiators at global talks this year to remain open to deeper, more costly emissions cuts.

Mr Stavros Dimas European environment commissioner said that “This is almost certainly the last chance to get the climate under control before it passes the point of no return.” He made the warning as he unveiled a proposed European negotiating position for talks in December in Copenhagen on a successor to the Kyoto protocol.

He said that it would call for emissions from the aviation and shipping industries to be tackled, despite the fact that both sectors are seen suffering from global recession.

EU cited growing scientific evidence that emissions will have to be stabilized at lower levels than previously thought, possibly as low as 350 parts per million, compared to current levels of 380 ppm. It added that “It is imperative to secure an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen that leaves the door open for a lower stabilization level.”

Annual spending to cut global emissions would have to reach EUR 175 billion by 2020, with more than half of that in developing countries. But the report omitted plans described in an earlier draft for a USD 200 billion levy on rich countries between 2013 and 2020 to help poor nations agree concrete steps to cut emissions.

EC called on industrialized nations to cut their emissions to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020. All but the poorest developing countries should limit emissions to 15% to 30% below business as usual levels, with a rapid decrease in emissions due to deforestation.

Arizona: Audubon joins fight against global warming

Tony Davis  | Arizona Daily Star

The Tucson Audubon Society is broadening its primary focus from birds and wildlife habitat to water and, particularly, global warming from carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

“It’s clear that unless we do something about CO2, habitats will continue to deteriorate, and we won’t have the birds to watch,” said the group’s director, Paul Green, explaining the provocative shift.

Sixty years ago, when 25 people held the society’s first local meeting at Tucson High School, they were volunteers interested mainly in watching the hundreds of species that make Southern Arizona one of the country’s premier birding hot spots.

Today, the Audubon group is a local fixture, on its own and as one of 35 groups in the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection that pushes for the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.

It has 3,500 members, a paid staff of 17 and about a $1 million annual budget. It operates two nature shops. It just upgraded its half-century-old bimonthly newsletter, the Vermillion Flycatcher, into a glossy magazine-style format. The group has a new logo, displaying the flycatcher’s flaming crimson on a yellow background to reflect the Sonoran Desert sun.

But its biggest change comes next.

Continue Reading Here.

Czech president says global warming is a Gore fallacy

 

Karachi News.Net

Czech President Vaclav Klaus has criticised climate change campaigner Al Gore, saying: ‘I don’t think that there is any global warming.’

Mr Klaus, in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, made the comments on the sidelines of the conference.

The 67 year old president, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said he had not been given any statistical data to prove the Gore theories on global warming.

Referring to the former US vice president, a well-known global warming activist who attended Davos this year, Mr Klaus said he was sorry that Al Gore had not been willing to listen to any competing theories.

Mr Klaus said he was he was more worried about the reaction to perceived dangers of global warming than the consequences.

He said some global warming theories were alarmist and likely to be misused for radically constraining the functioning of the markets and market economy.

Balancing the Economy and the Environment

Anthony Cefali | Gas 2.0

January is a good month. It’s a month that is the human symbol of starting over. Out with the old, in with the new. This January was particularly exciting for us here in the US, as we ushered in a new era of progressive politics with almost a little too much pomp and circumstance. But underneath the excitement lies a particularly disconcerting truth. We still have a nation to fix.

I like getting big things out of the way, so here it is. According to Susan Solomon, scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, once global warming sets in, it isn’t going away. The voice on NPR told me with such solemnity that I assumed that we had already lost the war with Global Warming. No matter how evenly I accelerated my car, it would no longer matter because the damage was done. Once I stopped hyperventilating I realized that there was more to the story, and the thoughtful voice informed me that the effects haven’t reached the point of no return yet. The oceans are currently padding the effects of global warming, holding it in check indefinitely. According to Solomon, the oceans will be able to hold off the siege of carbon dioxide for some time, but there are more immediate problems at hand.

According to Solomon’s study published in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences, not immediately curtailing our carbon emissions could create permanent dust-bowl conditions in the U.S. Southwest as well as the Mediterranean. I immediately thought of all the wonderful French wines I wouldn’t be able to try if that happened and subsequently panicked until I was informed that even this could take decades. I let out a nervous sigh of relief, knowing that this news just adds to the urgency of our battle for the atmosphere.

“We’re used to thinking about pollution problems as things that we can fix. Smog, we just cut back and everything will be better later. Or haze, you know, it’ll go away pretty quickly,” Solomon said of cleaning up our current mess. “People have imagined that if we stopped emitting carbon dioxide that the climate would go back to normal in 100 years.  What we’re showing here is that’s not right. It’s essentially an irreversible change.”

It’s still rather unsettling that we can’t get a better picture of what kind of time frame we’re working on here. Global warming isn’t exactly priority number one on everyone’s list, which is understandable considering our current economic meltdown. A Rasmussen Report as well as a Pew Research Center Pole taken around inauguration time showed a general cooling in global warming concern. Again, the current economic crisis calls for immediate attention, but how much longer will it be until global warming gets immediate attention?

Fortunately, we’re already beginning to see a drastic reversal of climate change policies as President Obama opened the door for states to regulate their own emissions (something California has been chomping at the bit to do). Of course I’m worried that global warming apathy will continue and lead to irreparable repercussions, but at the same time I’m optimistic. The Pew pole showed that in general, environmental issues are important to the American public, and that right now we’re just experiencing a lull. On the other hand the Rasmussen Report showed again that the American public is becoming increasingly divided along party lines, especially when dealing with the environment (21% of questioned Republicans believe that global warming is being induced by human activity).

President Obama has made it a priority of his to curtail global warming, and he hired an energy secretary who knows his science to prove it, but we can’t forget that our planet is our responsibility. No matter how many laws are enacted or how much reach the EPA is granted, it will still ultimately be up to us how far we allow global warming to go before it’s stomped out.

Continue Reading Here.

Vermont: Economy, Global Warming Discussed At Woodstock Town Meeting

Jaimarie Ely | Fox44 News

Senator Bernie Sanders said there’s a way to solve some of the country’s economic problems while also taking on global warming. Senator Sanders and author and environmentalist Bill McKibben held town meetings about the issues Sunday.

“The results of our failure if you don’t correct it very soon will be written you know in not a few years of pain, or decades of pain, but in geologic time,” McKibben said.

Every seat in the Woodstock town hall theatre was filled, so people stood and sat in the aisles to hear what Sanders and McKibben had to say about global warming and the economy.

“The challenge right now is creating jobs maintaining a strong economy and doing it in a way that doesn’t destroy our environment and doesn’t increase the dangers of global warming,” Senator Sanders said.

Senator Sanders said the country needs to be aggressive in moving towards things like wind and solar energy, and could bring in lots of jobs by breaking dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels. Senator Sanders said just within the economic recovery package there are millions of dollars that should help, some of which he has introduced.

“Which will move this country from fossil fuel to sustainable energy to energy efficiency and lower greenhouse gasses as we create millions of good paying jobs,” Senator Sanders said.

Charlet Davenport of Woodstock said some of the topics discussed were once considered controversial.

“I don’t think that’s the air anymore, I really feel hopeful,” Davenport said.

The audience also had the opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts.